Citizens Concerned About GM – a new people’s campaign

The use of genetic modification (GM) in food and farming is on the increase and is being heavily promoted by government- linked industry.

But evidence continues to emerge of the very real risks:

to human and animal health

to biodiversity and the environment

of contamination of non-GM crops

These risks are ignored by Government and the media

In the last 6 months the UK government, researchers and industry have launched a media drive to convince YOU the public that GM technology is the future for food and farming and is the only way to “feed the world”.

In fact we already produce enough food globally to feed 9 billion people – two billion more than we have. Hunger, malnutrition and starvation are the result of an intersection of free market economics which treats food like a commodity and of unforgivable waste which sees one third to one half of all food produced thrown away. GM technology cannot ‘fix’ these problems, nor is it delivering on its many promises to do so.

4 Contamination of non-GM crops and wider contamination of the food chain including oil seed rape, soya, maize, linseed and honey is endemic. Some US, EU and Indian courts are beginning to award dam­ages but regulators continue to dismiss the problem. Why?

5 The use of Roundup, the GM-linked herbicide, has dramatically increased leading to resistance in over 20 weed species in the US alone. How does this benefit farmers or the public?

7 GM seed costs have increased by 10 times in the USA. In one region of India 209 farmer suicides in 2011 were attributed by a govern­ment report to the GM cotton economy, i.e. seed price increases, crop yield collapse and market loss. These are just a few examples of how GM has increased to breaking point the financial pressure on farmers.

Realistic, environmentally friendly and socially fair solutions to the problem of feeding the world’s population are being ignored as gov­ernments and industry blindly pursue the GM agenda at any costs. Why?

Join our ‘people’s campaign’

Citizens Concerned About GM is a group of people who want a real debate about genetic modification; who want questions asked and answered; open, transparent discussions that are not dominated by the interests of multinational corporations.

We are launching our website www.gmeducation.org on Friday 18th May to help raise very real concerns about genetic modification. We are not necessarily anti-GM, but we think a lot more questions need to be asked.

PLEASE JOIN US in publicly expressing concern about GM technology and its impacts. Visit our website and add your name to the list of “Citizens Concerned About GM”.